Background

After more than 25 years working across sales leadership, sales operations, CRM transformation, and commercial improvement, Chris Paton had accumulated a huge amount of experience helping organisations improve sales performance.

Like many experienced professionals, however, he faced a common challenge when moving into independent consulting.

His experience was broad.

Too broad.

Potential clients could see the depth of expertise, but it wasn’t immediately obvious where he created the greatest value.

The Challenge

Chris had spent years helping businesses improve sales processes, implement systems, improve reporting, develop teams, and drive commercial performance.

The problem wasn’t credibility.

The problem was focus.

When you’ve spent decades solving different commercial problems, it’s easy to describe what you’ve done.

It’s much harder to communicate exactly why a prospective client should engage you today.

The challenge was to identify the common thread running through his experience and package it into a clear, commercially relevant proposition.

Finding the Pattern

As we reviewed Chris’s background, a recurring theme emerged.

Many growing businesses don’t have a sales problem.

They have a sales consistency problem.

Revenue forecasts are unreliable.

CRM systems are underused.

Pipeline data can’t be trusted.

Sales processes vary between individuals and teams.

Leadership teams lack visibility into what is really happening.

The result is inconsistent performance and missed growth opportunities.

This became the foundation of a much clearer positioning.

Building a Commercial Offer

Rather than presenting a long list of services, Chris’s expertise was organised around a simple commercial narrative.

Helping businesses build predictable and scalable sales performance.

This led to a structured service approach built around:

  • Sales Performance Diagnostic
  • Revenue Operations Review
  • Sales Process & CRM Optimisation
  • Leadership & Team Enablement

The focus shifted from activities to outcomes.

Where Things Stand Today

Today, Chris is building an independent advisory practice focused on helping growing businesses improve sales effectiveness, increase visibility, and create more predictable commercial performance.

His experience spans sales leadership, operations, systems, process improvement, and commercial transformation.

Most importantly, he helps leadership teams understand where performance is breaking down and what needs to change to support sustainable growth.

Adrian’s Reflection

Chris is a great example of someone whose expertise had become so broad that it was difficult for potential clients to immediately see where the greatest value sat.

The opportunity wasn’t to reinvent his experience.

It was to identify the recurring problems he had solved throughout his career and build a clearer commercial story around them.

Many professionals underestimate how valuable pattern recognition becomes after 20–30 years in an industry.

The challenge is often not gaining more expertise.

It’s making that expertise easier for the market to understand.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-paton-sales-enablement/